Politics

Obama, GOP headed for 2014 collision course

For President Obama and the Republican
Party, the weekly addresses have frequently served as a clarification of
differences.

Seldom has that been truer than it was
on Saturday, when the president and Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., painted two
distinct visions of America’s present and future.

At times, it seemed like they weren’t
even living in the same country.

“Our economy
just isn’t creating enough jobs,” said Stutzman. “More than 10 million
Americans are unemployed. Last month, roughly 350,000 Americans -- a little more
than the population of Tampa, Florida -- stopped looking for work. Health
care premiums have gone up. And millions of families have lost their
insurance because of the new health care law.”

“For
the first time in nearly two decades, we produce more oil here at home than we
buy from the rest of the world,” he said. “We generate more renewable energy
than ever and more natural gas than anybody. Health care costs are
growing at their slowest rate in 50 years – due in part to the Affordable Care
Act. And since I took office, we’ve cut our deficits by more than half.”

The president emphasized his push for
high-tech manufacturing, recalling his trip to Raleigh, N.C., this week, where
he launched the country’s second “manufacturing innovation institute” – a
“partnership between companies, colleges and the federal government focused on
making sure American businesses and American workers win the race for high-tech
manufacturing and the jobs that come with it.”

And he outlined an ambitious,
optimistic agenda for 2014. “We are primed to bring back more of the good jobs
claimed by the recession and lost to overseas competition in recent decades,”
he said. “And I want to work with Congress this year on proven ways to create
jobs, like building infrastructure and fixing our broken immigration system.”

“Where Congress isn’t acting, I’ll act
on my own to put opportunity within reach for anyone who’s willing to work for
it,” he added, reprising his call for 2014 to be a “year of action.”

Stutzman wasn’t buying it.

“President
Obama’s latest slogan is a ‘year of action,’ but his administration and his
party’s leaders in the Senate are sitting on the bench,” he said.

The Indiana congressman slammed
Democrats for their focus on a restoration of federal emergency unemployment benefits. “They seem to have surrendered to a new normal of high unemployment,”
he said. “Instead of standing shoulder to shoulder with out-of-work Americans,
they’re focused on making it easier to live without a job.”

And he called on Senate
Democrats to pass “dozens of jobs bills” pushed by the House GOP that would
approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, expand offshore energy production, update
job training programs and cut regulation.

“Republicans hope the president
is serious about making 2014 a ‘year of action,’” Stutzman said. “It should
start by giving each of these jobs bills an up-or-down vote in the Senate.”

“The American people haven’t quit," he said, "and neither have Republicans."